Feeling sociable? This week’s latest and greatest web writing news centers on being (successfully) social, as content and social media marketers talk blogging and community development, while SEO and search folks discuss Google’s social ranking factors and its latest attempt at being social… plus (+1) or minus (-1). Spread your social butterfly wings and investigate this week’s early spring blossoms…

Finally, the need for (website) speed: Mashable reports on Google’s new tool for helping you increase page speed, and Conversation Marketing’s Ian Lurie reports that fast pages convert two times better than their slower competitors (based on his column at Search Engine Land, where he focuses on ways to speed up your website).

SEO & Search:

SEOmoz posts a retrospective of all the SEO changes (mostly Google’s doing) that have occurred over the past year, not the least of which is the rise of social SEO.

Search Engine Roundtable – Barry Schwartz does a great job of summarizing the feedback from searchers, webmasters and advertisers, providing a brief video demo and links to relevant resources.

Search Engine Watch – Jonathan Allen lists (10+ points) explaining just what the +1 is about (hint: more of an experiment than not.)

Search Marketing Wisdom – Alan Bleiweiss takes the view that social sentiment is an SEO factor that’s here to stay, in whatever form it ultimately takes.

LiBeck Integrated Marketing – Liana Li Evans recounts the painful history of Google’s social attempts, and warns (via Fantomaster) that the +1 button may prove to be a black hat SEO “goldmine.”

Weighing in on the recent Google initiatives, Eric Enge addresses post-Panda measurements of social engagement at Search Engine Land, and discusses Google’s changes as an attempt at checks and balances with its ranking signals at Search Engine Watch.

PR Web’s Stacey Acevero posts part one of a “crash course” on small business branding and awareness, and Shelley Kramer co-authors why you aren’t getting what you need out of social media monitoring (yet) at Social Times.

How to grow a blog community with social media is the subject of Social Media Examiner’s Michael Steizner’s video interview with ProBlogger founder and author, Darren Rowse.

Business Insider posts a chart showing that – at least for now — social sites have little effect on where folks buy stuff online, while Mark Schafer of Businesses Grow {grow} reviews the hot-selling new book (“Social BOOM!…”) about the impending social media boom.

Meanwhile, Guy Kawasaki discusses how to launch any product using social media at Mashable.

Laura, another excellent roundup post. I loved last week’s too. I’ll be sharing your post again on my twitter page (@ronvanpeursem), and using at least 8 of the articles for my team of content writers.
Thanks!
-Ron.